Ted Gutierrez grew up in Canarsie, Brooklyn, attending Holy Family Roman Catholic Church. He remembers Priest Romano Ferraro touching him inappropriately.

“I became an altar boy, and that’s when I noticed the abuse. But I didn’t realize it was abuse because we thought it was just normal. Because how could a priest, a respected member of the community, do something like that,” he told NY1.

What You Need To Know

On Thursday, Bishop of Brooklyn, Rev. Robert J. Brennan, announced the diocese “intends to pursue a global resolution of all approximately 1,100 remaining cases” 

However, Anela Doumanian, a lawyer representing about 50 survivors with claims against the Brooklyn Diocese, called this “a PR stunt masquerading as a settlement offer”

The church says it has reached out to lawyers representing the largest groups of plaintiffs

Survivor Ted Gutierrez, who already received a settlement from the Diocese of Brooklyn a few years ago, believes the church has ignored its own principals to keep itself in power and encourages others who experienced abuse to come forward 

“Next to the altar was something called the sacristy, and the room where the altar boys dressed,” he explained. “That’s where it started, I noticed, horseplay with this particular priest. And I thought it was horseplay, being a nine, ten-year-old boy. He started fondling us in the church.”

The abuse continued beyond the church grounds.

“He would organize trips for us to go swimming in high schools in Brooklyn,” Gutierrez said. “There, I think the abuse was more than just fondling. I don’t want to get into details, but I think there was, not for me, but I think there was penetration in those places. It’s horrible.”

After serving at a number of other churches, a jury in Massachusetts found Ferraro guilty on several charges, including child rape. In 2004, he was sentenced to life in prison.

Gutierrez confronted a former bishop of the Brooklyn Diocese and asked that an apology be sent to all who were impacted by the abuse.

He says he never got it, but years later received a settlement offer from the church. Gutierrez said after much thought, he took it and donated a majority of the money to organizations that fight child abuse.

On Thursday, Bishop of Brooklyn, Rev. Robert J. Brennan, announced the diocese “intends to pursue a global resolution of all approximately 1,100 remaining cases.”

But Anela Doumanian, a lawyer representing about 50 survivors with claims against the Brooklyn Diocese, called this “a PR stunt masquerading as a settlement offer.”

“We have not even been approached,” Doumanian told NY1. “These promises to do right by survivors ring hollow when you’ve aggressively fought these same survivors for over half a decade in court.”

But the church says it has reached out to lawyers representing the largest groups of plaintiffs.

“They’ve been very enthusiastic about the prospect of having a global settlement because going to court and having, you know, 1,100 individual trials would be costly,” Robert Giuffra, attorney for the Diocese of Brooklyn, said. “It would take years, and it would result in inequitable distribution of compensation to victim survivors.”

Giuffra says 90% of these cases go back to approximately 50 years ago, saying, “This is really a historic problem. It’s something that the church is very committed to resolving, and we’ve since adopted state-of-the-art processes to avoid future abuse.”

But Gutierrez believes the church has ignored its own principles to keep itself in power and encourages others who experienced abuse to come forward.

“To let the world know the magnitude of the crime, and there’s something therapeutic about talking about it. I can attest to that,” he said.